e-p3 freezes intermittently with VF-2

This problem is intermittent, so I cannot give more specific details. It occurs only when the VF-2 in on. For sure in Shoot Mode.

After shooting maybe 30 shots, the camera buttons become inactive. Suddenly, I cannot use the dials, the dial buttons, INFO, grid. Sometimes when I press GRID, nothing happens, then, after pushing trying to adjust shutter speed, the grid finally appears after the delay. So, suddenly, nothing happens, or the button input may come after a few seconds.

I have tried turning the camera off and on. Sometimes this helps. Works great without the VF-2. After a wait (the camera is less warm?), it works fine.

A bit of background. I tried both the VF-2 AND the VF-3 in the camera store with THEIR e-p3, and the INFO button sometimes would not cycle. So, this problem does not seem to be with my camera, and the VF-3 had a similar problem (I think that the VF-3 had the problem) in the store.

Being intermittent, it is really frustrating. At this preliminary stage, Olympus Tech has no idea what to say.

I had read about that somewhere I believe. Can you disable the touchscreen function when using the eye finder? I assume you're not using the touchscreen if using the finder....right?

Click to expand...

Yeah, you can disable it in the menu. If you just disable it on the rear screen, it will still go dead when your nose hits it. Oly really ought to get a FW fix out on this soon because its a real drag to have to go menu diving everytime you want to use the EVF. It should know when the evf is active and disable the screen. Until then, you can disable it on the menu and the problem goes away. I don't use the EVF much and I sort of got used to keeping the evf slightly articulated so my nose was a bit further from the screen. Now its not an issue with the EPL3, but when I was shooting with the EP3, it definitely was there.

Thanks so much for all of the responses. I hope that you are onto something. But, I think that the problem might be worse than just touching the screen. With that in mind, I did this test.

I activate the touchscreen.
Then switch to the VF.
Then, while touching the screen with my finger, the dials do lock up.

But, when I take my finger off of the screen, everything is fine once again.

My problem is that the dials still don't work when this happens, even when holding the camera away from me, looking at the LCD.

I hope that I am missing something. Are there some other steps that you could suggest that might replicate the problem, just in case my test was inaccurate? Right now, there is no way that I know how to lock out the dials, and have them restored by not touching the screen any more.

I sure do like the camera, but with bright light, I really do need the VF. I would hate to send everything back.

BTW, when this happens again, I will try disabling touchscreen from the menu.

Disable touch screen for a while, and see if the problem happens at all.

Sometimes, touching the screen (with e.g. your nose or your finger the in the corner) can put it in a mode where some of the buttons aren't responding. With the touch screen completely disabled, you can determine if there is some other issue.

When I shot with the EP3, and I found the buttons stopped working (even without the EV attached) in my case, it was usually because the thumb on my left hand was just barely touching the lower left corner.

Like the original Panasonic G cameras with the auto-sensing EVF. Something which they later took away, too... Not sure why, as I've never heard any complaints about that system. Only complaints about the lack of that system...

I am fairly certain that the problem is solved. Being intermittent, one cannot be completely sure, but at this point, it looks good.

I did turn off Touch Screen via menu; and, after 70 shots this am, it did not freeze once. I could never go more than 20-30 shots previously, before freezing.

As I mentioned before, while touching the screen, the buttons/dials stop working, BUT when "untouching" it would work fine. Mine was a different (possibly related) issue whereby the freezing persisted without the screen being touched.

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